


The Green Knight

by ArmIa



Category: Doom (Video Games)
Genre: Adult Fear, Apocalypse, Blood and Gore, Blood and Violence, Body Horror, Canon-Typical Behavior, Canon-Typical Violence, Childhood Trauma, Children, Demons, Disturbing Themes, Evil Corporations, Gen, Hell, Hopeful Ending, Horror, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Loss of Innocence, Mecha, Military, Minor Character Death, Original Character-centric, POV Third Person Limited, Religious Discussion, Religious Imagery & Symbolism, War, Weapons, Women in the Military
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-12
Updated: 2020-05-12
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:13:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24148762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArmIa/pseuds/ArmIa
Summary: Day Zero, 2163. A Saturday morning that should have been spent watching cartoons and playing video games turns into a nightmare when monsters invade the world.Set either during or just prior to the events of Doom Eternal, loosely based on the Story of Earth Codex entries with some slight canon divergence. No children or pets die. Please refer to the tags for additional content warnings.
Comments: 11
Kudos: 51





	The Green Knight

Billy was in the living room when the monsters first came to Earth. 

He was watching cartoons on the big TV, just like he did every Saturday, when the picture suddenly changed. Gone were the bright colors and characters he was so familiar with, replaced by a man wearing a suit and tie like the one daddy wore for work. A ticker at the bottom of the screen was scrolling steadily from one side to the other while the man in the suit spoke to the camera. He had a nervous expression, and his forehead was shiny with sweat. 

“ _We interrupt your regularly scheduled programming to bring you an emergency news broadcast_ -”

Billy didn’t like grown-up TV. Mommy and Daddy were always watching the news, because that was what grown-ups did, but he could never see the appeal. All they ever talked about was something called the _energy crisis_ , which he vaguely understood to mean that the world was running out of electricity and soon they wouldn’t be able to watch TV. 

Billy wasn’t all that bothered. TV was cool and all; he liked cartoons and video games as much as anyone else, but he liked books and toys too. His favorite book was the one about The Green Knight, the one that Daddy always used to read to him when he was little. 

Daddy didn’t really read him bedtime stories anymore. Mommy said it was because he was always so busy at work, that he was always too tired when he came home. Mommy always offered to read him stories, but although he’d never tell her, it just wasn’t the same without Daddy reading them. 

Daddy always worked on weekends, so when Billy heard the front door open he was surprised to hear Daddy’s voice. Mommy sounded surprised too. He could hear their voices in the hallway as the man on TV continued to deliver a diatribe that Billy wasn’t really listening to. 

“John, what’s going on?”

“Get Billy. We have to leave, now!”

“What are you-”

“Where is he? Billy, where is he?”

“He’s in the living room, watching TV-”

“ _Now go live to our correspondent in-_ ”

“Mom?” Billy called out, stabbing absent-mindlessly at the buttons on the remote. “Hey, Mom, the TV’s all messed up!”

“Hold on, sweetie!” he heard Mommy call back. Then, in a lower tone: “John, please, just tell me what’s-”

“There’s no time!” came Daddy’s voice, a harsh bark that sounded like Mommy had done something bad and he was mad at her. “We have to go!”

There was a metallic whirring sound, and he heard Mommy gasp. “Jesus, John, is that a gun?”

“Yes, it’s a gun! Haven’t you seen what’s happening out there?! It’s on every channel!”

Turning back to the TV, Billy saw the picture was the same as before. No cartoons, just the sweaty man in the suit. 

“Mom!”

“Hold on, honey- just-”

“ _-may find the following footage disturbing, so those of you with small children may wish to_ -”

The door burst open. Daddy was inside the room before Mommy, hugging him tight, and he felt something hard against his shoulder as Daddy’s big, strong arms squeezed him, scratchy stubble scraping against his cheek. 

“Heya, Billy,” he heard Daddy murmur. “Now listen, listen to me very carefully, alright? It’s not safe here. We’ve got to go, but everything’s going to be-”

“Oh, my God.”

Daddy’s eyes followed Mommy’s to the TV screen. The picture had changed again, and the man in the suit was gone. There was another man, standing outside and talking into a microphone, raising his voice to a half-shout to be heard over the noise in the background. People were yelling. Screaming. There were loud bangs that he recognized as gunshots, and other noises that he didn’t recognize but made all the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. They didn’t sound like anything he’d ever heard before, but if he had to compare them to anything the closest thing would have been the roars and shrieks of animals he’d seen in nature programs. 

All the color seemed to drain out of Daddy’s face. 

“Turn it off,” Daddy said, speaking first to Mommy and then to him, and then to Mommy again. “Billy, don’t look. Don’t let him look!”

The camera swung away from the man with the microphone and dwelled briefly on the street he was standing in. It looked kind of like the street they lived on, except the buildings were all wrong. There was pink, wet-looking stuff bulging out of the concrete, thick tendrils of glistening matter with spikes of yellowish-grey enamel jutting out of them, almost like horns- or teeth. 

The pink stuff had eyes, too. Far too many eyes, even more eyes than a bug. They looked like people’s eyes, but just like the teeth there was nothing about the way they were positioned that made any sense. It didn't make up a face. It was just eyes and teeth, set in a great, heaving mass of stuff that looked like half-chewed bubblegum. 

The pink stuff was pulsing and writhing, dripping with thick red gunk and swelling like it was one of those water-filled rubber toys and some giant invisible hand was squeezing the other end of it below the surface. The camera shook violently, then hovered over a group of people with guns. They were all wearing the same outfits, the same helmets, and they were all shooting their guns. The camera shook again, then jerked away from the soldiers and showed what they were shooting at. 

The monsters looked like something out of the cartoons Billy had been watching just minutes prior, except they were all wrong. Like the pink stuff with the awful fangs, they looked too real, too horrible to exist in the same world Billy lived in. Even if they'd existed in a cartoon then it would have to be the kind of cartoon that Mommy wouldn't let him watch. 

Billy had seen a movie on TV once, when Mommy had let him stay up past his bedtime on a night when he hadn't had school the next day. It was a scary movie, a movie for grown-ups about monsters that ate people. He'd only seen a few minutes of it before Mommy had turned it off and suggested that he should play video games instead, and the way she'd said it has made it clear it wasn't a suggestion.

Not wanting to have his staying up with a bag of cookies and the TV to himself privileges revoked, Billy had agreed, but the images of the monsters had stuck in his mind the way one of those little thin pieces from popcorn got stuck between your teeth and scraped at your gums. 

The monsters in the movie looked like nothing Billy had ever seen in real life, and the closest frame of reference he had to something that looked like them were things that Mommy had assured him wasn’t real after he'd woken up from a nightmare about them eating him. 

They came in all different shapes and sizes, all bright colors and teeth and horns. Some looked a little bit like people; others didn't look like anything at all. There were big, fat ones and ones with horns that looked almost like a cross between a person and an animal, with powerful, muscular limbs and razor-sharp teeth like the big knives Mommy used to cut vegetables. Some walked on the ground, and some flew through the air. One of the flying ones almost looked kind of funny, big and round like a Halloween pumpkin, with a big, goofy mouth and a single eye in the middle, but then the big, goofy mouth opened up and it was full of teeth and it was so big that it looked like a whole person could fit inside it. 

The pumpkin suddenly swooped down and chomped one of the soldier guys, and it turned out it couldn't quite fit a whole person inside its mouth at all- just most of one. The soldier guy’s boots were still sticking out of that big, goofy smile, still kicking as the pumpkin chewed him up.

Then the pumpkin swallowed him, and there was nothing left of him at all.

The other soldier guys were shooting at the pumpkin, and their guns were ripping big chunks out of its scaly red hide. The shots were poking big holes in it that oozed thick blue liquid, but the pumpkin just kept coming. 

The other monsters kept coming too. One of them looked like a skeleton, like one of the plastic decorations Billy always saw at the Halloween store, but it was twice as tall as any of the soldier guys, far too big to even pass for being a real skeleton like the cheap plastic decorations could. It picked one of the soldier guys up and pulled him apart like he was made of Play-Doh, then it punched another one so hard his whole head came off.

It was screaming the whole time, a horrible sound full of pain and anger, like it could tell it didn't belong in the real world and it was so mad that all it could think to do was scream and hit things.

The picture flickered, becoming a mess of blurred movement that showed the asphalt hurtling past underfoot as whoever was carrying it started running. Billy could hear the army men yelling and firing their guns and the monsters screaming and howling even over the mess of rumbling static that the audio had devolved into, and Mommy hugged him tight, just as Daddy had done before, deliberately turning his face away from the screen. 

“It’s alright, baby, it’s- it’s just a movie, it’s not real-”

“Jesus Christ, don’t tell him that!” Daddy snapped. 

“Well what am I supposed to say?” Mommy demanded, still gently stroking Billy’s hair as she spat the response back at Daddy. 

“Well, I don’t know! Just don’t lie to him!”

“He’s just a child!”

“I told you not to let him look, God damn it!” 

Mommy looked back at the screen, still shielding Billy’s eyes although the damage was already done. The carnage and devastation was gone, and the sweaty man in the suit was back, stammering his way through another monologue that was punctuated with words Billy didn't understand. 

“ _Early casualty estimates range in the tens of thousands-_ ”

“Oh, God,” Mommy whispered. “It's real, isn’t it?”

Daddy exhaled through his nose. 

“Yeah,” he murmured, as though worried Billy might hear him. “It’s real.”

_“-authorities urging those in the affected zones to seek shelter and avoid contact with the invaders at all costs. Evacuation efforts are-”_

Mommy was shaking. She looked like she was going to cry. “Is it- is it terrorists, or- or aliens, or-”

Daddy palmed at the back of his neck, looking at the TV and not at Mommy. “Maybe. I don’t know.”

“ _-with some religious groups already interpreting the crisis as an apocalypse of Biblical proportions, leading many to-”_

“Look, just- just pack a bag. We need to leave.”

“And go where? God, I need to call Molly and make sure she’s-”

“Don’t,” Daddy instructed as Mommy’s trembling hands fumbled with her phone. “The lines are all dead. Look, there’s a safe zone in Midtown. The military is evacuating people and my job gets me priority access.”

“Your job-?”

“ _-statement from the Union Aerospace Corporation, released just minutes after the initial attack, in which they identified the invaders as-”_

“Oh Jesus, John. Is it them? Are they something to do with this?”

“We don’t have time for-”

“Look me in the eye, John! You look me in the eye and tell me right now that you had nothing to do with this!”

“I didn’t have anything to do with this, alright?!” Daddy thundered, and Mommy took a step back, pulling Billy against her tummy.

“ _-accusations of cult-like activity at UAC installations on-_ ”

“I heard things,” Daddy continued, dialing his tone down several notches. He sounded like he'd done something bad and was working his way up to admitting it, hoping Mommy wouldn't be mad at him when he did. “Everyone in the department did, all the rumors about Phobos and the teleporters and what they were doing up there, but this- this is-”

Daddy’s voice trailed off into nothing. Mommy started crying. 

“I can’t believe this is happening,” she whispered. She was holding onto Billy so hard that it hurt a little bit. “God, John, what are we going to do?”

Daddy came over and hugged her, hugging Billy too by proximity. “It’s okay. We’re okay. We’ll be okay, alright? We’ll be fine.” His tone had suddenly shifted again, no longer guilty but very calm, almost warm. “Billy, can you grab your shoes for me? Don’t worry about your laces, champ, I’ll tie ‘em for you.”

This was unprecedented. Daddy always insisted that Billy tie his own laces. 

Billy did as he was told. 

“Where are we going?” he asked. 

“We just need to go somewhere safe, okay?” Daddy responded, skillfully deflecting the question. 

“For how long?” 

The question was a curveball, and Daddy had to think about his response for a moment. “Just until it’s safe, sport.”

Billy paused, watching Daddy fumble with his shoelaces. “Do I still have to go to school on Monday?”

Daddy didn't meet his eyes. “We, uh- we’ll see, alright? This might be kind of like a vacation, you know, we might have to stay a little while.”

“Can Tulip come with us?”

Daddy stared at him, then managed a weak smile, like Billy had said something funny but he just didn’t have the energy to laugh. “Of course she can. Grab Tulip and let's go, okay?”

They hurried out the front door. Mr. Peterson from next door was outside, with Mrs. Peterson and Jamie and Alana. Mr. Peterson was a tall man with brown skin, a darker brown than Daddy’s, and his hair was grey at the sides where Daddy’s was mostly black. Billy supposed that meant he was older than Daddy, though he wouldn't claim to be an expert at judging such things. 

“John!” Mr. Peterson said, calling out to Daddy. Daddy grimaced at him. 

“Sandy, you alright?”

Mr. Peterson looked between them, his eyes temporarily settling on the gun in Daddy’s hand. Billy waved. “Hi, Mr. Peterson.”

“Yeah, we're- hey, Billy. John, have you seen the news?”

“Yeah, we saw it.”

Mr. Peterson shook his head, his mouth a tight line. “It's happening everywhere. They're saying that Central Europe’s almost completely gone already.”

“Yeah,” Daddy sighed. “I know.”

“We need to get somewhere safe- has your place got a basement? We've got plenty of room in ours, and there should be enough food and water for us to hold out until-”

Daddy shook his head, interrupting him. “No, all Sandy, it's fine- thank you, but we’re getting the hell out of dodge. You take care, alright?”

Mrs. Peterson blinked. “What? You're leaving?” 

Mr. Peterson was looking at Daddy like he was crazy. “John, you can't- you can't leave, man. It's not safe out there.”

“The military is evacuating people in Midtown,” Daddy began. “We-”

“No, no, Midtown’s a death trap!” Mr. Peterson insisted. “Local news is saying those things are all over the place! Even the military can't hold ‘em off, you really think that a- a _pistol_ is going to-”

“We'll be fine, Sandy. Just stay safe, alright?”

“John, you don't understand-”

“Why don't you come with us?” Mommy said suddenly, speaking to Mr. and Mrs. Peterson. Daddy looked at her. 

“Donna, no- we can't-”

Mommy ignored him, speaking to Mr. Peterson. “Sandy, listen, you can't just stay here and just- just wait for those things to come and-”

“Donna!” Daddy said, with that same accusing tone from earlier, as if she’d said something rude. 

“John, you said the military is evacuating people, didn't you? We stand a better chance if we get as far away from here as possible and-”

“And go where?”

“Anywhere!” Mommy said, with the same tone that she generally reserved for when Billy had asked her _are we nearly there yet_ too many times. “Anywhere that's not here! Anywhere that's not where those things are!”

“They're everywhere!” Mr. Peterson reminded her. 

“They're putting people on shuttles. The UAC’s got plenty of installations off-world where we’ll be safe until the military gets this under control.”

“Under control? John, you saw the news-”

Mr. Peterson took a deep breath, his words careful and measured.

“John, please- I know we haven't always seen eye to eye in the past, but-

“John?”

Mrs. Peterson suddenly spoke up, interrupting what Mr. Peterson was about to say. Her eyes were all shiny, and her voice was trembling like she was about to start crying. 

“If you’re going, can you- can you take my kids? Please? Please. Please just take my girls.”

Daddy looked stricken. “Christy-”

“Mom, no!” Jamie cried. 

“Please, I just-” 

Mrs. Peterson’s voice cracked. Jamie was staring up at her with a look of terror on her face. 

“Please,” she said again, after a shuddering breath. “Please, for their sake if not for mine.”

Mr. Peterson looked at Mrs. Peterson like he was really mad at her, like he was going to start yelling. “Christy, we are _not_ -”

Alana’s bottom lip was trembling. “Mommy, I don't wanna go!”

“Sweetie, you have to. You have go with Mr. Romero. It’s for your own good-”

“But I don't wanna!” Alana sobbed, her distress stretching the syllables into a wail. Jamie was clinging to her like she was scared she'd go flying away if she let go. 

“No!” Mr. Peterson almost shouted at Mrs. Peterson before looking at Daddy. “Look, John, no disrespect to you or Donna but you decide what’s best for _your_ family, alright?”

“That’s exactly what I’m doing, Sandy,” Daddy said firmly. Mr. Peterson went on talking like he hadn't heard him. 

“I am _not_ sending my kids out there-”

“Look, just come with us!” Mommy said. “All of you, please, just come with us! You'll be safe!”

Mr. Peterson shook his head. “Donna, I'm sorry, but I can't-”

Mommy grabbed a hold of his hand with a sudden, swift movement and looked right into his eyes. “Think of your girls, Sandy. Your _children_ , for God’s sake.” She looked to Daddy, still holding Mr. Peterson’s hand. “John, tell him-”

There was a loud noise from down the street, a rumbling, whooshing sound that was coupled with the booming of massive metal feet, and a huge rectangular shape drifted lazily towards them, so big that it almost didn’t fit between the cars parked on either side of the road. A boxy, almost humanoid silhouette towered above it. 

The tank looked like one of Billy’s toys, except it was way bigger, made of metal instead of cheap green plastic, and it wasn’t covered in stickers that were peeling off from where he’d played with it in the bath one time. The robot was bigger too, far bigger than the Christmas present that stood almost as tall as he did in the corner of his room, dwarfing even the massive bulk of the tank. 

A door on the side of the tank opened, and a big man in an army outfit stepped out. He was carrying a ginormous gun that was nearly as big as he was, even bigger than the guns the other army guys with him were holding. 

Mommy was always reminding Billy that he was a big boy now, but he suddenly found himself feeling very small. 

“Dr. Romero?” said the army guy. 

“Yes?” Daddy answered. 

“Sergeant Elson, Armored Response Coalition. We’re here to get you to safety, sir.”

“On whose authority?” Daddy wanted to know. 

“Dr. Hayden’s, sir,” said the army guy. Daddy seemed to accept this answer, although the name meant nothing to Billy. “We need all hands on deck and you’re on the list for priority evac.”

Mommy looked at Mrs. Peterson, then back at Daddy. “John?”

“We’re on a critical time frame here, sir. It's not safe. We need to go.”

Daddy grimaced. “Yeah, I know- just- please just give us a minute-”

The army guy looked at Mommy. “Are you Mrs. Romero?”

“Yes, hi- I'm- can we just-”

“We really don't have time for this, ma’am. For your sake and your family’s sake, we need to move.”

“Alright, alright,” said Daddy to the army guy. Then, to Mommy and Billy, “Come on.”

The army guy nodded. “Thank you, sir.”

Mommy hadn't let go of Mr. Romero’s hand. “Sandy?”

One of the other army guys was looking at Mrs. Peterson, still hugging Jamie and Alana as she looked imploringly at Daddy. He looked young to be in the army. He looked more like a boy than a man, older than Billy but not as old as Daddy. He didn't have a beard like Daddy did, and his face wasn't as heavily lined as the other army guy. 

“Sarge, what about the rest of the civvies? We can't just leave ‘em.”

“We have our orders, Hodges.”

“They're with me,” Daddy said suddenly. 

The big army guy gave Daddy a questioning look. “Sir?”

“They're with me,” Daddy repeated. “We're not leaving without them.”

Mrs. Peterson made a small sound and hugged Jamie and Alana really tight. Mr. Peterson bit his lip, but said nothing. 

The army guy nodded. “Alright, sir. If you say so. Leave the bags, please, ma’am. We’re short on space as it is.”

Mommy dropped the suitcase she was holding and the handbag that Daddy had got her for her birthday onto the sidewalk. “Okay, okay, that's fine. Come on, Billy.”

Billy clutched Tulip to his chest. “What about Tulip? She can come, can’t she?”

At the time, Billy hadn't really given much thought to leaving his toys behind, but Tulip wasn’t just a toy, and he didn’t like the idea of leaving her all alone when there were monsters around. 

The army guy looked bemused, but Mommy just smiled weakly and nodded. 

“Yeah, of course, sweetie, that's fine. Just put her in your lap, okay? Hold on to her, now.”

Mrs. Peterson was crying, even though Billy didn’t really understand why. “God bless you, John. God bless you.”

Mrs. Peterson was a nice lady with kind eyes that crinkled at the corners when she smiled. Billy had never seen her cry before. He didn’t like the way it made her eyes look. 

“Hall, Taylor, give these people a hand!” the big army guy called out, addressing the young army guy and another one who was standing on the door to the tank. Then he pressed his hand against his chest, as though he were speaking on the phone. “Stomper, this is Delta Six-Four Actual. Precious cargo is on board. Hovertank Three-Delta is proceeding to evac.”

“ _Copy that,”_ Billy heard a voice answer him. _“We’ll stay on station and provide overwatch en route to the objective_.”

There were more army guys inside the tank, and more people who weren’t carrying guns or wearing army clothes. One of the army guys was a lady, and she was really strong. She put her hands under Billy’s arms and lifted him into the tank with almost no effort as Daddy passed him to her. She was a grown-up, but she was pretty, and Billy felt his cheeks get hot when she smiled at him. 

“Hey there, little man. First time riding in a Hovertank?”

Billy nodded, a little shyly. “Yeah.”

“Me too. Pretty cool, huh?”

Billy nodded again. “Yeah.”

The army lady nodded at Tulip. “I like your bunny. What's his name?”

“She's a she. Her name’s Tulip.”

The army lady smiled again, a nice smile. “Tulip, huh? Cool name. Mine’s Taylor. What's yours?”

“Billy.”

“And is that your mom and dad?” Taylor asked, indicating Mommy and Daddy. 

“Yeah.”

Taylor nodded slowly. “Well, listen Billy, me and my buddies here are gonna keep you all safe, okay?”

“Okay.”

Taylor indicated the big army guy, the one who’d been speaking to Daddy earlier. “The Sarge over there, he's in charge, so whatever he tells you to do, you do it, alright?”

“Okay.”

Taylor took her left hand off of her gun and placed it on Billy’s head, ruffling his hair. The gesture reminded him of when he was getting his hair cut, except the haircut lady always used to pull his head about, and he didn't like it. This just reminded him of when Daddy had used to tuck him in. 

“Attaboy. You just sit tight, now. Everything’s gonna be just fine.”

“Ten mikes out from exfil,” The Sarge announced, talking to the army guys. “Be ready to move!”

“Heads up,” one of them told him, “JOC’s saying Plutonia Avenue’s blocked. They’re trying to figure an alternate route.”

The Sarge shook his head. “Negative, we don't have time. Just push through it. Let Stomper clear a path.”

“Roger that.”

The rumble of the tank’s engines was punctuated by the booming footfalls of the robot as it set off. It was almost like being on the school bus, except it didn’t shudder or jerk to a halt every five seconds, and the seats were at the sides instead of in rows with an aisle going down the middle. The army guys were all standing, and the only people sitting were people like Mommy and Daddy and Mr. Peterson and his family. 

“Holy shit,” one of the army guys murmured, looking out of a tiny slot on the side of the tank. “You seeing this?”

Taylor gave the army guy a scathing look. “Watch your mouth in front of the kid, for Christ’s sake. What’s the matter with you?”

“You can dial back on the blasphemy too. Last thing we need with everything that's going on right now is you pissing off God,” another army guy remarked.

“Like a Biblical plague out there already, man,” one of them muttered. “Friggin’ judgement day.”

“What did I just say? I literally just told you to-”

“Can the chatter unless you've got something useful to say,” The Sarge snapped. 

“Contact front!” one of the army guys yelled. 

Billy didn’t know what that meant until he heard the boom of the big cannon on top of the tank firing, and the horrible screeching chorus of the monsters outside. People in the tank began to scream as something began to bang against it from the outside, making the whole thing shake. Even some of the army guys were yelling. 

“We’re taking damage!”

“Stomper’s engaging!”

“ _Have visual on multiple targets! Foot-mobiles coming at us from both flanks! Engaging with HMX- God_ damn _, they're fast!_ ”

“Use the miniguns, Stomper! Don't let ‘em swarm you!”

Mommy held Billy tight against her. She was saying something, but Billy couldn’t make out the words over the commotion all around, so it just sounded like she was crying. 

“ _Engaging with seven-six two! Armor integrity is holding at eighty per cent! Seeing lots of heat spots down there!_ ”

“Are we clear to move?”

“ _Twelve o’clock’s clear but you've got more coming in from your six!_ ”

“Rog’! Just keep ‘em off us for a few more seconds!”

“ _Got you covered! Go, now!_ ”

The tank surged forward, and something outside made a wet, squelchy sound as the tank shunted it aside. 

“We’re clear!”

“Stomper, what's your status?”

“ _They're all over us! Armor integrity’s at forty nine per cent! Deploy countermeasures! Broken Arrow! Broken Arrow!”_

“Fall back now, Stomper! Get out of there!”

“ _Negative, hydraulics are shot! We’re not going anywhere!_ ”

The sound of the monsters and the gunfire was receding into the distance back the way they’d come, muted but not absent. The Sarge gritted his teeth. He looked like he was about to yell, but when he spoke it was in a low murmur. “Copy that, Stomper. I'm sorry.”

“ _Don't be! We’re still good on ammo- we’ll hold ‘em here as long as we can!_ ”

“Understood, Stomper. Thank you.”

The voice of the person inside the robot had suddenly become calm, almost a sigh, the words punctuated by the crumple of static and the echoey screeching of the monsters. “ _You make it count, alright? Don't let it have been for nothing!_ ”

“Stomper, be advised, we've got women and kids on board here. It wasn't for nothing, you hear? You saved lives today.” 

The person inside the robot didn’t answer. The army guys looked sad, and some even looked a little scared.

“Shit,” one of them muttered. This time, Taylor didn’t tell him off for using a bad word.

The tank rumbled onwards. Some people inside the tank were crying quietly, men and women, kids and grown-ups, but nobody talked until the tank suddenly shuddered to a halt, and one of the army guys- the one driving the tank- announced, “We’re stuck!”

“Well, get us un-stuck, God damn it!” The Sarge snapped. “Without Stomper covering our asses we’re sitting ducks!”

The army guy shook his head. “I've still got pressure in the pedals, but at the rate we’re going we’re going to burn out the rear thrusters before we get anywhere!”

“Oh, you gotta be shitting me!” another army guy complained. “How does a friggin’ Hovertank get stuck, for Christ’s sake?”

“Dude, seriously, knock it off with the cursing already. Jesus.”

“That goes for blasphemy too. I wasn’t kidding about that.”

The Sarge turned to the rear of the tank, where Billy and the others were sitting. “Alright, ladies and gentlemen, listen up! Change of plans. We’re going to proceed to the evacuation site on foot.”

“You can’t be serious!” Mr. Peterson exclaimed. 

“I’m always serious, sir. The evac is only a couple of blocks away.”

“But what about the- those things-”

“You’ll have an entire squad of ARC Special Forces troops protecting you, sir. Let us worry about the Challenged.”

“So we’re not calling ‘em demons any more, huh?” one of the army guys muttered. 

“Nah, man, didn’t you hear that UAC bitch on the TV? _Demon_ is an offensive term,” sneered one of the other army guys. “We’ve gotta call ‘em _mortally challenged_ now.”

“If I have to tell you to watch your mouth in front of the kid one more time, Carmack, you’re gonna find out what it’s like to be mortally challenged,” Taylor told him icily. 

“Alright, enough chatter. Check your gear and top off your mags if you need to. We’re stepping into a non-permissive environment with no adjacent support from here on out, so be ready for contact.”

“So what’s the game plan?”

“The Doc is priority one. Bounding overwatch; Green, Hodges, you’re with me. Stay on the Doc and his family all the way to the evac. Hall, Abrash, Prince- the rest of the civvies are your responsibility. Cloud and Taylor, you keep any hostiles off our backs.”

“Rog’.”

“You got it, Sarn't.”

“You know how to use that sidearm, Doctor Romero?” The Sarge asked Daddy, nodding at the gun in his hand. 

Daddy looked embarrassed. “I, uh- in theory, yes. I’m familiar with the workings and I’ve been, uh- I was involved with weapons testing in-”

“Then be ready to use it. Just remember the golden rules: keep your finger off the trigger until you’re ready to fire, don’t point it at anything you don’t want to shoot, and don’t shoot anything you don't want to kill.”

Daddy nodded. “Yes, yes, of course.”

“And no heroics, sir. Our job is to keep you and your people safe.”

“I understand.”

“Good man. Everyone, ready up!”

“Just stay close to me, honey,” Mommy told Billy, taking hold of his hand and squeezing it. The soldiers are going to keep you safe, okay? They’re going to keep us all safe.”

As if to reaffirm this, Taylor looked over at him and gave him a sly wink, as though the two shared a secret that nobody else knew. 

“Deploying ramp!”

“Go, go, go!”

Mommy practically dragged Billy down the ramp, Tulip hanging from his other hand as she gripped him around the wrist. The Sarge and the two other army guys were running ahead of them with their guns up, looking all around. The street ahead of them was empty; there were no people, just empty cars with their doors hanging open and bits of random stuff scattered about- unopened cans with the labels peeled off, odd shoes, scraps of dirty fabric.

Something crunched under his foot, and when he looked down to see what it was, he realized that it was a cellphone. He’d crushed the screen under his sole, sending a spiderweb of a crack exploding across the glassy surface.

“Forward area clear!”

“Rog’! Bounding!”

“Keep moving, ma’am! Do not stop moving!”

All of a sudden, things got really bad. 

The monsters came out of nowhere, literally out of nowhere. Flashes of swirling red light lit up all over the empty street and the monsters came out of them, running and flying and crawling, tearing their way out of whatever nightmare place they’d come from and into Billy’s world, uninvited and unwanted.

They were all over the ground and all over the rooftops, surging between abandoned cars and oozing buildings and people were screaming, their screams mingling with the horrible sounds the monsters were making. The army guys were shooting their guns and they were screaming too, sometimes screaming words and sometimes screaming just to scream because even the army guys were afraid, afraid of the monsters just like everyone else. 

_Contact contact_

_Run, run_

_They’re everywhere_

_Watch out watch out_

_Behind us behind us_

_Shoot ‘em all kill ‘em all_

_Move move move_

_Lay down suppressing fire_

_Too many there’s too many of them_

Billy’s legs pedaled in the air as big strong arms picked him up from behind and for a horrible moment he thought one of the monsters had grabbed him until he felt Daddy’s stubble pressed into the side of his head hard enough that it hurt. 

_It’s okay_ he was saying, speaking in a guttural whisper that became a moan like he was going to start crying, _it’s gonna be okay Billy don’t look just don’t look_ and then the moan became a scream of _Donna come on run for God’s sake just run go go_

Daddy was holding Billy with one hand and his gun with the other, shooting at something he couldn’t see and he heard a scream and thought for a second it was Mommy but he couldn’t tell because everything was happening so fast and everything was so loud 

_Inside inside get inside_

_Go go go go_

_Mommy_

_Cover the civvies get ‘em inside_

_Holy Mary, Mother of God_

_Kids get the kids inside for Christ’s sake_

_Where’s mom where is she_

_Pray for us sinners_

_Mommy_

Billy pulled his face away from the damp fabric of Daddy’s shirt and immediately wished he hadn’t. One of the army guys was laying on the ground and his belly was all cut open and Billy could see his insides leaking out, and he was crying, not even screaming, just crying while Taylor held him, and she wasn’t crying but she was shaking and covered in blood. 

“Just hold on, Cloud, hold on, you’re gonna be okay- medic! _MEDIC!_ ”

Taylor’s words became a howl as one of the other army guys broke away from the line and ran over to where she was kneeling, fumbling in a white metal box with a red X stamped on it like the first aid kit Mommy always kept in the kitchen and had only ever used when Billy had fallen over in the yard and scraped his knee. The army guy with the cut-open belly had blood coming from his mouth now, staining his teeth and lips like he’d just eaten a load of cheap candy, and his tears were mingling with the blood and the blood was all over his chest and all over Taylor’s hands as she cradled him, hugging him like Mommy was hugging Billy with her hands on the sides of his face, and when he tried to speak the words came out as an unintelligible moan that dribbled out of his mouth on a tide of blood. 

“Hold on, man- Doc’s got you, just hold on-”

“Kev? Kev, buddy, I need you to stay awake, okay? Stay with me, man, I’m just gonna- I’m gonna patch you up, just stay with me-”

“Hodges, we need that evac now!”

“Oh God!”

“Rescue Rover, Rescue Rover, this is Delta Six Four, come in, over-”

“Come on, you bastards!”

“Don’t waste your ammo! If it’s got a head, shoot it in the head!”

“Eleven o’clock high! Watch the fliers!”

“Where’s the Sarge?!”

“The Sarge is dead, man, they _ate_ him, they just-”

“More at nine and three! They’re coming over the rooftops!”

“Oh God, we’re screwed, we’re screwed!”

“Shut up! We’re not dead yet! The evac’s coming, we just have to hold out a little longer!”

“I'm almost out!”

“Save your ammo! Check your shots!”

“Oh God, oh Jesus Lord Almighty please God help us-”

“-have multiple contacts closing on our position and no heavy ordnance, we are completely cut off-”

“John, if they get through-”

“I- I’ve got five bullets left, I-”

“Oh Jesus, John- my kids- my kids-”

“Rescue Rover, be advised, we have multiple wounded- we’ve got civilians here- _kids_ , there’s kids, for Christ’s sake, _please_ -”

“Our father, who art in Heaven-”

“Listen to me, listen! If it comes to it, I- I won’t let them get the kids, you hear? I won't let them get-”

“Agh, son of a bitch- I’m hit-”

“Man down! _Man down!_ ”

“Taking too many casualties, we can’t hold ‘em off much longer-”

“Evac’s on its way!”

“Deliver us from evil-”

“John- we’re- we’re out of time-”

“No! We just have to hold on-”

“There’s no time, there’s no time- we’re not gonna make it-”

“John, you- you know what to do- you have to, please- the kids- we can’t let them-”

“Oh Jesus, God forgive me-”

“Holy shit, what _is_ that?!” 

It took Billy a few seconds to realize that the army guys had stopped shooting. He could still hear the horrible screams of the monsters, but now they were the only ones screaming. None of the army guys were screaming any more, and some of the grown ups were still crying silently, but everyone was looking out into the street, and Billy almost didn’t want to look until one of the other grown-ups- a big, dark-skinned man who almost looked like Santa Claus, except his beard that was more grey than white- said something so quiet that he almost missed it over the pandemonium outside. 

“He is here.”

Then Billy saw what he was looking at. A flash of metal in a heaving mass of sinewy limbs and rippling flesh, moving so fast that his eyes almost couldn’t make sense of what he was seeing. 

Green. The metal was green, a splendid and vibrant green, untarnished among the red and brown of the hideous congregation, and even when the green took shape a small part of his brain argued that it couldn’t be real, it couldn’t _possibly_ be real until the shape grabbed one of the monsters by its neck and punched so hard that a gauntleted fist exploded out the back of its horrible ugly face. 

_And all his vesture verily was clean verdure, both the bars of his belt and all the other beauteous stones that were set in fine array about himself…_

Plates of green metal that parted between fist and shoulder, exposing the rippling muscles beneath the suit of armor. He stood like a man, proud and unbowed, not just a sick mockery of a man like the monsters that stood on two legs, but something better.

Something more. 

_From the neck to the waist so square and so thick was he, and his loins and his limbs so long and so great, that half giant I believed him to have been…_

It didn’t seem possible that something that big could be so fast. He moved so quick the monsters couldn’t touch him, ducking and weaving through the maelstrom of teeth and claws as fireballs hurtled past his head and puddles of sickly green acid sizzled where he’d been standing seconds prior. He grabbed another one of the monsters out of the air as it flew toward him, holding it by the neck as its claws raked the air inches from his helmet, and for a moment Billy thought he was just going to punch it again until he saw a spike of metal erupt out of its back between its leathery bat wings.

“And with him lies our salvation,” the big bearded man whispered, so quiet that Billy thought he might have been the only one who heard it- or perhaps everyone else was just too transfixed by the spectacle in the street outside. “For his strength is our shield, and his will our sword.”

The figure’s helmet whipped around to face them as though he’d somehow caught the big man’s words over the shrieks and howls of his quarry, scattered in chopped-up bits and pieces around his armored feet as his sword dripped with technicolor blood as thick as paint. His face was shadowed by a visor, but as it twitched slightly in his direction, Billy could almost have sworn that he saw a pair of eyes through the darkened sheen of the glass, returning his gaze from beneath a brow that was furrowed with concentration. He felt a sudden chill go through him, and his breath hitched in his throat.

_His glances were like bright lightning, so said all that saw him. It seemed as if no man could endure under his blows…_

Billy knew immediately who it was. He’d known as soon as he saw the sword and the armor, but he almost couldn’t bring himself to believe it.

It was The Green Knight. He’d come to kill the monsters and save them all.

_Sir courteous knight, if it is battle that thou cravest, thou shalt not fail of a fight here._

The monsters poured into the street from both ends, but the army guys didn’t shoot their guns or call out to one another any more. They didn’t need to. 

The Green Knight charged to meet the monsters, firing his own gun as he ran. The shots were expertly placed; they tore chunks out of the bigger ones and blew the smaller ones into red and purple mist, picking holes in the ranks of the monsters that The Green Knight dived into with unrelenting ferocity, ripping and tearing them apart. 

The monsters moved fast, but The Green Knight was always faster. The monsters were strong, but The Green Knight was stronger. The monsters had teeth and claws and could spit acid and throw fireballs, but The Green Knight had his shotgun and his sword, and he wasn’t interested in fighting fair.

“For he will walk among us, and he will smite the evil from this earth,” the big bearded man went on, keeping his voice to a low murmur as if he didn’t wish to disturb The Green Knight while he was working. “For he who comes in our time of need is not of mortal breed. He is the Destroyer, the right hand of our Creator and the one who brings fear where there is no hope.”

The big bearded man was right, Billy realized. The monsters _were_ afraid of him, and they were right to be. The Green Knight annihilated whatever horrible thing dared approach him, reducing it to chunks with whatever he felt worked best, and he _always_ knew what worked best. He always knew where to shoot, where to stab or punch, targeting their weak spots with whatever tool was right for the job and never hesitating for a moment.

The bigger ones were always the first to go, either too stupid to realize the danger they were in or too sure of themselves, too convinced that they were tougher and scarier than The Green Knight just because they were bigger than him.

The Green Knight wasn’t scared of the monsters. He just hated them. His hate made him angry, and the angrier he got, the stronger he got. 

Some of the little ones tried to run, but they didn’t get far. When they ran towards him, The Green Knight swept their legs out from under them and cut them in half; when they tried to run away, he shot them in the back, chased them down and stomped them into mush with his heavy metal boots as they crawled along the ground, trying desperately to get away from him. 

The flying ones weren’t safe either. Billy saw a pumpkin drifting lazily towards The Green Knight, still grinning that goofy grin right up until he leaped up into the air, grabbed it by the horns and punched it right in the eye. It crumpled like a punctured soccer ball, and it wasn’t smiling after that. It was screaming, a warbling shriek that probably would’ve sounded really funny if not for how utterly horrific the spectacle was.

The Green Knight moved like a superhero, leaping and bounding between cars and buildings, picking up the monsters and throwing them, twisting off arms and legs and swinging them like clubs, pounding skulls and knocking big, sharp teeth out of big, ugly mouths, breaking the monsters like cheap toys, squashing them like bugs. 

Soon the fight was over, and The Green Knight stood alone among the carnage, utterly still and quiet. He didn’t even seem to be breathing hard. The street was flooded with half a dozen different shades of blood, monsters and bits of monsters piled up like garbage around The Green Knight, but his armor was untouched, not scratched or scuffed or dirtied in any way. 

The armor was magic, Billy realized. It had to be magic, for The Green Knight was magic, just like it said in the storybook. The storybook hadn’t made any mention of The Green Knight having a gun, but who was to say that wasn’t magic too? Magic could do anything. If the monsters could shoot fire and acid, of course The Green Knight should be able to shoot bullets. Having a gun made more sense than having a bow and arrow.

The Green Knight moved among the carnage around him, still silent even as the gentle sound of someone sobbing broke the spell that had fallen over everyone hiding in the building. Mr. Peterson was hugging Mrs. Peterson and Jamie and Alana, shaking as silent tears streamed down Mrs. Peterson’s face. Jamie and Alana weren’t crying, but their eyes were wide, staring at nothing as Mrs. Peterson stroked their hair and told them in shaky, tearful whispers that it was okay, that they were safe now. Taylor was still cradling the army guy with the split-open stomach, and she was crying too, unintelligible sounds escaping from her moving lips from which the only words Billy could distinguish were _no_ and _not you too._

When Billy turned back to the street, The Green Knight was kneeling, pawing through the devastation he and the monsters had caused and picking something up. He canted his head at it, turning it over and over in his big, gauntleted hands, and Billy felt a sudden jolt as he realized what it was.

“Tulip!”

Billy wrenched himself out of Mommy’s arms before Mommy could stop him, not thinking or listening, ignoring her screams as he ran out into the street, nearly skidding on the gooey mess of the monster blood and faltering almost to a standstill as The Green Knight suddenly stood up, alerted by the scream, the sound of his name following him from his hiding place. 

The Green Knight stared at him as he approached, and as he drew nearer Billy began to realize for the first time just how huge he was. He was taller than Daddy, even taller than the big man with the beard, and for a moment Billy almost got scared before he remembered the storybook.

The Green Knight was fearsome, wild and unfettered, but he wasn’t a bad guy. He only hurt monsters, not people. 

The Green Knight said nothing, but watched as Billy’s eyes drifted from his visored helmet to the stuffed rabbit in his hand. He indicated Tulip with his other hand, and Billy nodded in what he hoped was a suitably respectful manner, at a loss for words until The Green Knight took a knee again, holding Tulip out to him.

“Thank you,” he said, accepting the offering. 

The Green Knight nodded, still silent.

“Her name’s Tulip," Billy explained as the rabbit hung limply in his arms- a little dirty, a little smelly, but still in one piece. The Green Knight nodded again, not in the dismissive manner of a grown-up who isn’t really listening, but with the genuine approval of a teacher who has just been given the right answer to a question. 

The Green Knight’s helmet suddenly tilted skywards, fixing on the big, chunky outline of a shuttle that lowered itself into the street with a whine of rocket engines. The army guys flagged it down, motioning for all the people inside the building to head towards it, and as the ramp deployed Billy could see more army guys inside the craft, staring in disbelief as The Green Knight stood up, the visor glancing over to Mommy and Daddy as if sensing that it was time for Billy to leave.

“Thank you,” Billy told The Green Knight again, starting back towards Mommy and Daddy. “Thank you for saving us. You were awesome. When I grow up, I wanna be just like you.”

The Green Knight watched as Billy ran back to Mommy’s arms, still waving to him over her shoulder as she ran to the shuttle. He watched as the Petersons and the army guys followed, watched Taylor join the rest of her squad after arguing with the shuttle’s crew chief about bringing Cloud’s body with them, boarding the craft with his ID tags strung from the rosary of metal ball bearings wrapped around her bloodied fist.

He ignored the looks that the scientist with the gun in his hand and the big bearded man gave him, watching the ramp of the shuttle fold back into the belly of the craft as it took off, watched the distant silhouette fade to nothing in a sky that was swollen with rust-tinted clouds, forks of reddish lightning stabbing through inky black smoke as grasping tentacles made themselves comfortable in the burned-out husks of distant skyscrapers. 

_When I grow up, I wanna be just like you._

The child’s words echoed in The Green Knight’s head. The cheeky, gap-toothed smile was branded into his memory, as much an anachronism among the haggard faces of shell-shocked soldiers and tear-stained, blood-spattered innocents as the stuffed rabbit in his arms beside the gun in his father’s hand.

_I wanna be just like you._

The Green Knight shook his head, answering the boy’s ingenuous gaze too late for him to see. Many wanted to be like him, but nobody deserved to carry such a burden.

**Author's Note:**

> Shout-outs to: 
> 
> -W. A. Neilson, for his translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.  
> -id Software, for giving me yet another franchise to hyperfixate on.  
> -You, for reading this.


End file.
